


A Different Kind of Service

by EmeraldHeiress



Series: Shards of Kyber [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Hurt Anakin Skywalker, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Jedi Indentured AU, Padawan Anakin Skywalker, Powerlessness, Protective Obi-Wan Kenobi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26314726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/pseuds/EmeraldHeiress
Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi struggles to protect his padawan in a world where the Jedi are firmly under the Senate's thumb.
Relationships: Implied Sheev Palpatine/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Sheev Palpatine & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Shards of Kyber [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847170
Comments: 40
Kudos: 411
Collections: New SW Canon Server Works





	1. Chapter 1

Master Windu’s words echoed in Obi-Wan’s mind as he slowly walked the marble halls toward their apartment. He knew if anyone should come across him now his torment would be clear but didn’t have the strength — the clarity of mind — to focus on his shielding.

_The Chancellor has asked for Anakin._

Helpless fury swirled uselessly in his chest. Anakin was _so young_. Too young! Still a boy! 

But what could Obi-Wan do?

The Jedi had been beholden to the Senate for centuries. Reparations for the Sith Wars nearly a thousand years ago kept them on a leash that seemed to shorten a little more every year. ~~Choking them. Killing them.~~

All the knights and masters learned how to play the game. How to smile and dance. Bow and complete the vanity missions the senators sent them on. Little more than attack dogs, at times. It was ~~infuriating~~ _dishearting_.

And everyone knew what guard duty really entailed. Everyone knew what a private meeting really was.

Anakin… so recently freed from true slavery…

Obi-Wan hadn’t wanted to spoil it for him. Not yet. Not when he still had the dregs of his childhood.

But this... _this_.

Obi-Wan slid to the floor and cradled his head in his hands. The image of Mace’s perfectly blank face flashed across his mind. Perfectly concealed emotions as he uttered the words that damned a young boy to…

How do you deny the Chancellor of the Republic? 

How could he protect his padawan?


	2. Chapter 2

Anakin is quiet when he returns to the Temple.

Quiet in a way that Obi-Wan has never seen.

His padawan is always so bright and bubbly. Full of energy and the Force it’s almost a miracle to get him to sit still. To get him to be calm.

But now Anakin is quiet and Obi-Wan’s heart _breaks_.

“Padawan?”

He flinches. Something inside Obi-Wan flinches with him. 

“The Chancellor wants to see me again tomorrow.” Anakin’s tone is bland, lacking in the emotion that normally infuses everything around him.

_No_. 

“You’re sick tomorrow.” He decides suddenly. 

Anakin’s head snaps up to stare at him, eyes wary.

“Corellian flu. It’ll keep you down for a least a week.” 

"Master?" Anakin asks, hesitantly. 

"Do you understand, Anakin?" 

"But, master, he threatened-" 

"I know. I know, padawan. But I can't-" 

His voice broke and he fell to his knees in front of his apprentice. The boy that was his to teach. His to love. His to protect. He wasn't doing a very good kriffing job of that right now. 

Small arms reached for him, winding around his neck. "Master, I know you're trying to protect me. Like mom tried. But-." 

"No!" 

"Obi-Wan..." Anakin looked torn a moment before he sighed. "You're my family. And we protect each other. And this is how I can protect us, too." 

Around them the Force wept.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Pull Back the Curtain (Be Ready for the Show)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350045) by [EmeraldHeiress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/pseuds/EmeraldHeiress)




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